


A Matter of Significance

by TheSovereigntyofReality



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post-Iron Man 2, F/M, Not overly Peggy Friendly, Team Tony, not SHIELD friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 05:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16826125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSovereigntyofReality/pseuds/TheSovereigntyofReality
Summary: When Peg, Howard, and Phillips started to build S.H.I.E.L.D., you can't tell me there weren't people who thought what they were doing was going too far.You can't tell me there weren't people who thought they were going over the line.And you definitely can't tell me that Tony Stark (who'd been a weapons manufacturer for the US for years) would just shrug off an intelligence organisation he'd never heard of.





	A Matter of Significance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DoctorMead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorMead/gifts).



Tony walked into the dilapidated room that was serving as a warehouse. It had been set up with several screens showing Tony’s recent fight with Vanko. There was a folder sitting on the table right in the centre. Tony knew precisely what it was. With his long talk with Happy, Pepper and Rhodey the morning after the fight and the conversations he’d had with various others, his mind was clear and he was able to look at this clearly.

He knew what it was.

But there was something he wanted. Tony sat down. He picked up the file and began flicking through it. As he did so, he cocked an eyebrow and transmitted the information back via JARVIS.

_Information received, sir. First test successful._

Fury chose that moment to appear and he took back the file in Tony’s hand, obviously designed to get Tony’s interest. ‘I don’t think I want you looking at that. I’m not sure it pertains to you anymore.’

Tony didn’t scoff like he wanted to.

Fury handed him another file. ‘This, on the other hand, is Agent Romanoff’s assessment of you.’

Tony suppressed his smirk as he took the file. He remembered how one particular conversation had gone: _‘Black Widows are named because they’re supposed to mimic the actual spider – mate and then kill. They’re some of the easiest women you will meet, have spent their whole lives learning how to manipulate different types of people, and can kill you in a heartbeat. However, despite what their hubris lets them believe, that’s where their skills end. They’re deadly honeypots and nothing more_.’

Should be interesting to see what they’d had her write.

He read out the most interesting bits. ‘Personality overview: Mr. Stark displays compulsive behaviour.’ He glanced up. ‘In my defence, that was last week.’ He looked back down and read the next bit. ‘Prone to self-destructive tendencies.’ He looked up again. ‘I was dying. I mean, come on, aren’t we all?’

In fact, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy had all agreed that his previous terminal condition was a rational explanation for his behaviour. There were countless examples, all over the world, and all through history, of dying people leaving their caution at the door. They were dying anyway. What did they have to lose? Better to die quickly than to have something just drag it out – and that was exactly what Tony had been thinking...in those moments when he’d been left alone with his thoughts.

He’d prefer to go with a bang rather than a whimper.

A neurotypical person would understand that. A Black Widow wouldn’t.

Tony read the next bit. ‘Textbook Narcissism.’ He looked up at Fury again, making sure the old spy saw the challenge in his eyes. ‘Agreed.’ Textbooks gave you the vague idea of what something was like, but did not even compare to the real thing. Then he looked down again. ‘Recruitment assessment for Avengers Initiative: Iron Man, yes. Tony Stark, no.’

Ah, there we were.

A goad.

How cute.

Sliding his businessman persona on, Tony said. ‘Hm, this seems a bit problematic. How can you approve me and not approve me?’

‘At this juncture, we’d like to only use you as a consultant.’

Tony looked up and met Fury’s eye. ‘You mean like dad was?’

Something like annoyance flashed over Fury’s face. ‘I told you, your father was one of our founders.’

‘Yeah,’ Tony said. ‘I believe he paid for everything. No wonder he only stayed a millionaire in his lifetime. He was cleaning up after you, half the time with little-to-no idea what he was cleaning up. And now you want to drag me in to do the same thing? What’s wrong? Didn’t your mommies ever teach you to clean up your own messes?’

Fury glared at him. ‘What are you on about, Stark?’

Tony raised his eyebrows, amused. ‘You really think there’s a computer system on Earth I can’t get into? I know that dad gave you guys explicit instructions to stay the hell away from me. In fact I saw that he blackmailed you into doing it. I guess you knew he could hack into your systems at all clearance levels.’

Fury’s eye widened as he seemed to realise just how far into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s system Tony got.

‘I guess my lifestyle prior to Iron Man kept you away before,’ Tony mused, leaning back in his seat. ‘Since it seems to go over your head, I’ll say it once more: I did not create Iron Man to play hero. I did it to clean up the mess that Stark Industries made.’ He narrowed his eyes at Fury. ‘It is not a weapon for use at your convenience. I’m not interested in your little boy band, and you couldn’t afford my fee anyway.’

Tony stood up.

‘Dad may have been shit at parenting but, after what I’ve seen on your files, he made the right decision here.’ He clicked and the screens around them shifted. ‘Then we have this to think of.’

Fury looked around and his eye bulged.

‘Yup, Nicky,’ Tony said. ‘I found the real profile. Let’s take a look at that, shall we? Genius level intellect but prone to taking blame for things he has no control over? Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, Nicky, but if you make a mess – even an accidental one – I was always taught, you clean it up. And look at all these suggestions for gaslighting and goading me. Good God, you honestly thought I wouldn’t see this! Wasn’t that cute?’ He leaned on the table and glared at the stunned spy. ‘Do you do anything right?’

An arrow was suddenly fired.

Instead of killing Tony Stark, though, it sailed through his neck without harming him and hit the floor on the other side of him. Tony smirked as Fury’s shocked expression.

‘I can’t believe,’ he said as his body began to dissolve, ‘you really thought I’d come here in person.’

Soon, Fury was sitting there, staring at the empty space and the “nothing left” of what he’d thought was Tony Stark.

***

_BREAKING NEWS  
For years, it seems, there has been a clandestine government organisation called Strategic Homeland Intervention and Enforcement Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D., which has been operating from American soil. This organisation uses blackmail, manipulation, assassinations, and the threat of death to control various civilians who come into contact with it._

_S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded by Margaret, or Peggy, Carter in the 1950s with an ends-justifies-the-means mentality. It was also discovered that late American Weapons Tycoon, Howard Stark, was roped into financially supporting S.H.I.E.L.D._

_Due to the fact that the late Mr. Stark has been shown to have blackmailed Ms. Carter and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. into staying away from his son, it has been determined that his participation in the organisation was not voluntary. Dr. Tony Stark announced all of this information, along with presented evidence, in a press conference early this morning._

_An image is shown of Tony Stark on a podium._

_‘How did you learn of this?’ one journalist asked._

_‘Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. first approached my PA during my first press conference after Afghanistan. We were suspicious at the name, as we’d never heard it before, and we sent enquiries both to the CIA and the FBI. All we got back were unspecific warnings to be cautious around them.’_

_‘So the CIA and the FBI were forced to keep the secret?’ another journalist asked._

_‘It would seem that way, wouldn’t it?’ Tony indicated another journalist._

_‘What about the recent allegations that your parents’ car accident was no accident at all?’_

_Tony’s eyes twitched. ‘That allegation was originally reported at the time by a friend of my father’s, who felt their deaths were suspicious. Due to the habits of S.H.I.E.L.D. in dealing with dissenters, this person remains anonymous.’_

_‘Can you at least tell us how this individual came into his or her suspicions?’_

_‘Yes. My father had been secretly in contact with this person and hid his more...ambitious projects within his friend’s house – the very projects he didn’t want S.H.I.E.L.D. touching.’_

***

Pepper sat on the couch next to Tony, watching the shit-storm of S.H.I.E.L.D. being exposed.

‘So, what exactly were the allegations?’ Pepper asked.

‘Well, the day it hit the papers, our special friend called 911 anonymously because they knew S.H.I.E.L.D. could be listening in. Dad went to a lot of effort to hide that stuff. It’d do no good to have that house raided on the off chance his stuff was found.

‘Off chance?’ Happy asked.

Pepper nodded. ‘I went with Tony. Howard’s stuff was all kept in a secondary basement, which had a hidden entrance in the first basement. The security systems on it were actually pretty state-of-the-art for the early 90s. Tony updated it.’

Rhodey chuckled and shook his head. ‘Of course you did. Is that where you found your virtual doppelganger thing?’

Tony nodded. ‘It was an idea dad had years back, apparently. I guess he must’ve at least suspected what the intelligence system just announced.’

Rhodey looked over at the screen. ‘That S.H.I.E.L.D. was HYDRA’s strongest foothold?’

‘I don’t think he would’ve known the extent of it, with how fond Carter was of keeping him in the dark, but he would’ve smelt something rotten. When I was a kid, he told me something that’s stuck with me. He said “how do the most successful people achieve greatness? By letting other, smarter people do the work, and then stealing it for themselves”.’

Rhodey was silent for a minute. ‘You know, I’m starting to think that as bad as Howard was, I think he was trying.’

‘So do I,’ Tony said.

There was a tense silence for a moment, before Happy interrupted it.

‘So what exactly is it?’

Tony chuckled. ‘When I told them that Fury wanted to meet me they took me down into see dad’s stash, and they showed me a box marked “Virtual Body Double”. The idea was to remove the risk to human life by sending an exact computerised replica of a particular person into the situation. The person, of course, would still need to interact with objects and people but it would dissolve as soon as it was threatened or deactivated.’

JARVIS picked it up from there. ‘The late Mr. Stark apparently got quite far with this idea. He had the theory worked out, and the formula worked out. He simply lacked the technology to pull it off.’

‘So he put it aside in his friend’s basement.’ Tony raised an eyebrow pointedly. ‘You know it’s funny. The only stuff of dad’s that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t take off with after he died was the stuff in that basement.’

‘Do you think he knew they’d steal it?’ Happy asked.

‘Possibly,’ Tony said. ‘Probably.’

‘Was he really in there unwillingly?’ Rhodey asked.

‘I’ll tell you what they told me.’ Pepper joined Tony in saying the next bit. ‘That’s so long a story I could write a book.’

**Author's Note:**

> Howard's unnamed friend can be whoever you want.
> 
> To my mind, though, they're someone who thought Peg's preferred methods of S.H.I.E.L.D. were over the line, and could see her getting her way. They're someone who left when it was still early enough in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s inception for Peg not to think too much of it. And they're someone who helped Howard when he realised he was in too deep and asked for help.


End file.
